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Bastions

Bastions are character-scale bases, outposts, homes, towers, workshops, fortified camps, lodges, sanctums, or similar places controlled by the characters.

A Bastion is not purchased as an abstraction. It is designed, mapped, built, supplied, staffed, expanded, and defended.

For construction-scale materials, see Material Acquisition. For workers and project assignment, see Labor Management. For settlement-scale structures, see Strongholds.

What This Is

Your Bastion is your responsibility.

You design it. You map it. You live with it.

Per the D&D 5.5E rules, Bastions are meant to be created using the same logic as dungeon maps. This is not optional.

Core Rule

If it exists in your Bastion, it must exist on your map.

No abstract rooms. No “it’s somewhere.”

If you did not draw it, it does not exist.

Mapping Standards

Scale

Pick one and stick to it.

  • 1 square = 5 feet, recommended
  • or 1 square = 10 feet

Your Map Must Include

  • all Facilities, both Basic and Special;
  • doors;
  • hallways;
  • stairs;
  • walls and boundaries;
  • labels for every room;
  • relative positioning;
  • what connects to what.

Free Elements

You can place these freely:

  • hallways;
  • stairs;
  • windows;
  • doors;
  • vertical layout;
  • multiple floors.

The system explicitly allows flexible layout and unusual shapes.

Clarity matters more than artistic quality.

Facilities

Your Bastion consists of Basic Facilities and Special Facilities.

Basic Facilities

Basic Facilities define how your Bastion lives.

Examples include:

  • bedroom;
  • kitchen;
  • storage;
  • courtyard;
  • pantry;
  • common room;
  • stable;
  • dock;
  • privy;
  • cellar;
  • servant room;
  • guest room.

Basic Facilities are flavor, structure, and physical support.

They define the place, but they usually do not provide major mechanical actions by themselves.

Special Facilities

Special Facilities define what your Bastion does mechanically.

Examples include:

  • Arcane Study;
  • Armory;
  • Library;
  • Teleportation Circle;
  • Barracks;
  • Garden;
  • Workshop;
  • Sanctuary;
  • Training Area.

Special Facilities provide mechanical benefits, hirelings, actions, and campaign functions.

There are roughly 29 or more options in the core system alone.

Facility Sizes

Each Facility has a size.

  • Cramped
  • Roomy
  • Vast

You must visually represent size differences on the map.

No “all rooms are the same size” nonsense.

Building Basic Facilities

Bastion Basic Facilities use Material Units from Material Acquisition and workforce requirements from Labor Management.

Cramped Facility

Default benchmark: 500 GP, 20 days.

  • 15 MU Wood
  • 8 MU Stone
  • 5 MU Iron

Roomy Facility

Default benchmark: 1,000 GP, 45 days.

  • 30 MU Wood
  • 15 MU Stone
  • 10 MU Iron

Vast Facility

Default benchmark: 3,000 GP, 125 days.

  • 90 MU Wood
  • 45 MU Stone
  • 30 MU Iron

Expanding Facilities

Upgrade Materials Time
Cramped → Roomy +15 Wood / +7 Stone / +5 Iron 25 days
Roomy → Vast +60 Wood / +30 Stone / +20 Iron 80 days

When a facility expands, the map must be updated.

Special Facilities

Special Facilities are gained by level unless another rule says otherwise.

Special Facilities:

  • are not normally built with materials when gained by level;
  • still require physical placement on the map;
  • may require staffing to function;
  • may require access, doors, work areas, storage, or support space;
  • may create risks based on placement.

A Teleportation Circle hidden deep inside a secure tower is different from one placed in the front hall.

That difference matters.

Construction Time

The official Bastion construction time does not change.

Size Time
Cramped 20 days
Roomy 45 days
Vast 125 days

Labor does not reduce this time below the listed time unless a specific rule says otherwise.

Labor determines whether construction progresses, whether it stalls, and whether multiple projects can run at once.

See Labor Management.

Workforce Requirements

Minimum Bastion workforce requirements are found in Labor Management.

As a quick reference:

Facility Size Unskilled Laborers Skilled Hirelings
Cramped 10, or 1 crew 1
Roomy 20, or 2 crews 2
Vast 50, or 5 crews 5

If the minimum workforce is not available, construction stalls.

Expansion Rules

As your character levels:

  • you gain new Facilities;
  • you can expand existing ones;
  • you can rearrange within reason.

Your map must be updated when this happens.

A Bastion that grows in play should look like a place that changed.

Design Expectations

This is not just art. It is gameplay.

You are expected to think about access, defense, function, and theme.

Access

How do people move through your Bastion?

Where do workers go?

How do supplies enter?

Can defenders reach threatened areas?

Defense

Where are the chokepoints?

What can be locked?

What can be bypassed?

Where are guards stationed?

What happens if attackers enter from the wrong side?

Function

Does the layout make sense?

Can the kitchen reach the storage?

Can the forge vent smoke?

Can the library stay dry?

Can a wagon reach the supply yard?

Theme

What kind of place is this?

A wizard’s tower, frontier fort, hidden shrine, restored ruin, shipyard lodge, military outpost, noble manor, monster-hunter hall, and druidic refuge should not all feel the same.

Consequences

Your layout can and will matter.

Examples:

  • poor access means defenders cannot respond quickly;
  • bad placement lets intruders bypass security;
  • fire or sabotage spreads based on layout;
  • supply storage can be targeted;
  • worker quarters can become vulnerable;
  • a Teleportation Circle placed carelessly creates consequences.

If your Bastion gets attacked, your map is the battlefield.

Tools You Can Use

Use whatever you want:

  • graph paper;
  • Foundry tiles;
  • DungeonDraft;
  • Inkarnate;
  • MS Paint;
  • pencil sketch;
  • grid paper;
  • any other clear map tool.

Quality does not matter.

Clarity does.

What Will Not Be Accepted

  • “The map is in my head.”
  • Unlabeled blobs.
  • No connections between rooms.
  • Rooms that magically connect when convenient.
  • Special Facilities with no physical space.
  • Defensive claims unsupported by the map.

Bastions and Strongholds

Bastions are smaller than Strongholds.

A Bastion is usually:

  • a personal or party base;
  • level-based;
  • faster to build;
  • useful for expansion and control;
  • physically mapped in detail;
  • limited by facilities.

A Stronghold is a larger population center or faction-scale holding. See Strongholds.

Teleportation Circles

Teleportation Circles can be built in Bastions or Strongholds if the relevant facility is available.

Their placement matters.

Teleportation Circles can:

  • connect your network;
  • enable rapid travel;
  • move people;
  • support logistics;
  • create strategic vulnerabilities;
  • become targets.

Final Rule

Your Bastion is a character in the campaign.

If you treat it like a spreadsheet, it will behave like one.

If you treat it like a place, it will become one.

Your Bastion is not purchased.

It is built, supplied, mapped, staffed, expanded, and defended.

Referenced by